Tag: california group health insurance

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – As the Affordable Care Act marks its second birthday and prepares for a date with the U.S. Supreme Court, the Bay Area Council continues its work to ensure that implementation of the landmark law remains focused on controlling costs, providing access for all and improving patient health. “The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was an important step toward the creation of a healthcare system that provides high-quality affordable care,” said senior policy advisor, Micah Weinberg. “We are working with policymakers to ensure…

The California Department of Insurance has released the quality of care report card by insurance commissioner Dave Jones, called the “2012 Preferred Provider Organization (PPO)”. According to Jones, this report is a useful resource which provides consumers with a larger amount of practical data about the quality of the care they can expect to receive, so that they are better able to make decisions that will meet their healthcare requirements. He added that “I want to encourage all Californians to take a look at the findings of the PPO report…

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has been in office for a full year now and he has taken the occasion of this anniversary to reflect on the accomplishments he has been a part of from 2011. In a statement released by the state’s Department of Insurance, the Commissioner notes that his time in office has been filled with confrontation with the insurance industry. Indeed, many of the actions coming from the Commissioner have been met with opposition from insurers, especially the bid to give state regulators more authority over the…

The results of a new study are showing that in 2010, California was the state with the most residents – approximately 7 million – who do not have health insurance coverage. According to the California HealthCare Foundation’s data, around 1 million children and 6 million residents under the age of 65 did not have health insurance. Among the nonelderly population of the state, an average of 21 percent were not covered by health insurance over the three years from 2008 through to the end of 2010. On the national list,…

Consumer Watchdog, a top consumer rights group from California, is working to divert the attention of the 2012 election away from the Obama administration’s health care overhaul in favor of a state ballot measure that seeks a public option, stricter premium oversight, and a rollback of 20 percent for insurance rates. The initiative by this Santa Monica-based group is aimed at the ballot in California in November 2012. Consumer Watchdog is the same group that brought about the landmark ballot measure in 1988, Proposition 103, which set cost and regulatory…

The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Friday, August 12, 2011, that California would be receiving over $38 million from the $185 in total funds that were being distributed among 13 states and Washington D.C., in order to assist with the development of state health insurance exchanges which are required under the nationwide health reform laws that went into place last year. On the same day, the Department of the Treasury, in conjunction with the HHS, issued the proposed rules that the states would need to follow for…

Blue Shield of California has had a tumultuous year when it comes to insurance rates. Earlier this year, the insurer sought steep rate hikes that drew the ire of the state’s Insurance Commissioner, Dave Jones, as well as criticisms from the public. After a lengthy battle in which the company refused to compromise on their proposed rate increases, Blue Shield finally submitted, abandoning their proposal altogether. Two weeks ago, the company came under fire again after the Department of Insurance revealed documents detailing how the insurer payed it’s top 10…